This guy who doesn't understand the appeal of a really great weather update:

This fan of Chris Cornell's penis:

This guy who should be a script supervisor at Disney:

This dog expert:

]]>https://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/the-32-smartest-people-on-youtubeThu, 21 Mar 2013 12:53:35 -0400<b>The comment sections on YouTube videos aren&#39;t known for their intelligent discourse, unless you consider extreme racism and homophobia intelligent discourse.</b> But every now and then, a real gem will shine through.awesomernonadult26 Things You'll See On Public Transportationhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/things-youll-see-on-public-transportation
In case you needed any more arguments in favor of buying a car and taking it alone everywhere you go for the rest of your life.

People who aren't as subtle as they think they are:

This:

People who should probably wait until they get home:

Furries:

All the balloons:

Crocheting enthusiasts:

]]>https://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/things-youll-see-on-public-transportationThu, 14 Mar 2013 11:41:13 -0400<b>In case you needed any more arguments in favor of buying a car and taking it alone everywhere you go for the rest of your life.</b>awesomernonadultPetition Demands CNN Apologize For "Disgusting" Steubenville Rape Coveragehttps://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/petition-demands-cnn-apologize-for-disgusting-steubenville-r
A flurry of online backlash erupted this weekend over how CNN covered the Steubenville rape trial.

CNN came under fire for sympathetic statements it made regarding the two men convicted of raping a young woman in Steubenville, Ohio, summed up in this macro, which has almost 3,000 shares on Facebook:

A petition was launched demanding CNN apologize, and it's already two-thirds of the way to its goal:

While reporting on the verdict and sentencing of the two Steubenville rapists, the CNN news personalities told us repeatedly how difficult it was to watch these boy's lives being destroyed. How their crime will haunt them.

These criminals destroyed their own lives, when they decided to repeatedly rape an incapacitated girl. When they decided to film and share their horrific crime.

Not once did CNN mention the person whose life was most destroyed by their crime, who will also be haunted for life by their crime... their victim. The young girl who they violated and raped.

Not once while they discussed the pain and humiliation these vicious and cruel criminals now face, did they acknowledge that her life was also destroyed, by them. That she would have to carry around the pain, humiliation, self doubt and self loathing, the stigma of rape, for the rest of her life. Not once did the CNN pundits mention the pain and humiliation these criminals repeatedly inflicted on their victim.

Not once.

The media, and it's personalities have a huge rule to play in shaping public opinion and public perception. With that role comes an equall responsibility to ensure they use that role for the good of society.

CNN's coverage of that story failed to meet that responsibility. Failed miserably. The on air personalities did nothing more than promulgate rape culture in America. A culture that leads to someone being raped or sexually assaulted every two minutes.

Every Two Minutes.

CNN, We are sure the 97% of rapists who will never spend a day in jail appreciated your sympathetic coverage of these two criminals.

The rest of us did not. We demand an on air apology for your disgustingly biased coverage. Further, we demand that you use your position as a premier news network to focus on changing rape culture in America. Devote an hour long, prime time segment to rape, it's victims, what can be done to prevent it, and how to change the culture that gives rise to this violent crime.

Here's the CNN clip:

CNN broke the news on Sunday of a guilty verdict in a rape case in Steubenville, Ohio by lamenting that the "promising" lives of the rapists had been ruined, but spent very little time focusing on how the 16-year-old victim would have to live with what was done to her.

Many have also pointed out CNN's angle is eerily similar to this clip from The Onion's Sportsdome on Comedy Central from last year:

I was a staff writer on the Onion's show "SportsDome" which aired on Comedy Central in 2011. This is one of the stories we did--full credit to David Iscoe (twitter.com/realhumanbeing) for the idea and script. It could have been produced by the CNN team covering the Steubenville rape verdict.

CNN wasn't alone in sympathizing with the two convicted rapists. The blog Public Shaming has collected some of the more shocking apologist tweets:

And as Tumblr user totalzero pointed out:

]]>https://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/petition-demands-cnn-apologize-for-disgusting-steubenville-rMon, 18 Mar 2013 11:10:56 -0400<b>A flurry of online backlash erupted this weekend over how CNN covered the Steubenville rape trial.</b>ryanhatesthisnonadultnonadultnonadult<blockquote>While reporting on the verdict and sentencing of the two Steubenville rapists, the CNN news personalities told us repeatedly how difficult it was to watch these boy's lives being destroyed. How their crime will haunt them.
These criminals destroyed their own lives, when they decided to repeatedly rape an incapacitated girl. When they decided to film and share their horrific crime.
Not once did CNN mention the person whose life was most destroyed by their crime, who will also be haunted for life by their crime... their victim. The young girl who they violated and raped.
Not once while they discussed the pain and humiliation these vicious and cruel criminals now face, did they acknowledge that her life was also destroyed, by them. That she would have to carry around the pain, humiliation, self doubt and self loathing, the stigma of rape, for the rest of her life. Not once did the CNN pundits mention the pain and humiliation these criminals repeatedly inflicted on their victim.
Not once.
The media, and it&#39;s personalities have a huge rule to play in shaping public opinion and public perception. With that role comes an equall responsibility to ensure they use that role for the good of society.
CNN&#39;s coverage of that story failed to meet that responsibility. Failed miserably. The on air personalities did nothing more than promulgate rape culture in America. A culture that leads to someone being raped or sexually assaulted every two minutes.
Every Two Minutes.
CNN, We are sure the 97% of rapists who will never spend a day in jail appreciated your sympathetic coverage of these two criminals.
The rest of us did not. We demand an on air apology for your disgustingly biased coverage. Further, we demand that you use your position as a premier news network to focus on changing rape culture in America. Devote an hour long, prime time segment to rape, it&#39;s victims, what can be done to prevent it, and how to change the culture that gives rise to this violent crime.</blockquote>nonadultnonadult<blockquote>CNN broke the news on Sunday of a guilty verdict in a rape case in Steubenville, Ohio by lamenting that the "promising" lives of the rapists had been ruined, but spent very little time focusing on how the 16-year-old victim would have to live with what was done to her.</blockquote>nonadultnonadult<blockquote>I was a staff writer on the Onion's show "SportsDome" which aired on Comedy Central in 2011. This is one of the stories we did--full credit to David Iscoe (twitter.com/realhumanbeing) for the idea and script. It could have been produced by the CNN team covering the Steubenville rape verdict.</blockquote>nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultHow Hollywood Copes With Disasterhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/richardrushfield/how-hollywood-copes-with-disaster
What it’s like to come to work at a movie studio after the weekend of a mega-flop like Jack the Giant Slayer.

An image from Jack the Giant Slayer, which opened Mar. 1 and was declared a flop almost immediately.

Warner Bros. Pictures / AP

You'd be hard-pressed to think of a less fun place to spend this past Monday morning than the executive suites of Warner Brothers Pictures. Last weekend the studio's Jack the Giant Slayer became Hollywood's latest high-profile misfire, earning a dismal $27 million on a budget reportedly in the neighborhood of $200 million, before marketing expenses.

Sooner or later, into the life of every entertainment executive some flops must fall. But coping with failure in a productive, healthy way is not an automatic instinct in a town where schadenfreude and finger-pointing are more popular than the Super Bowl — for every show-business executive must eventually face the day when he or she has to take the long walk down the studio corridor after their weekend disaster.

We spoke with three who have known those halls and witnessed many walks of shame close up, to find out what it is like in a studio's executive suite in the days after a very bad loss. The picture that emerges is of a town not generally geared toward learning from failure, but where that can, eventually, in fact occur.

Executives A and B, who spoke on condition of anonymity, have each worked in and around multiple studios in their decades of entertainment experience. Mike Medavoy was a cofounder of Orion Pictures and chairman of TriStar Pictures. He serves today as the CEO of Phoenix Pictures.

Head Start

2012's John Carter took $250 million to make — plus $100 million in marketing costs — but only earned about $283 million worldwide.

Disney

BuzzFeed: The flop game has changed in recent years thanks to tracking — the advance numbers every studio receives indicating public awareness of and enthusiasm for an upcoming release. Thanks to tracking, the flop game begins long before opening weekend.

Executive A: Because of tracking, everyone knows well in advance what's going to happen. As you approach the release, there is a lot of ass covering. The head of the studio doesn't want the head of the company to read in the paper for the first time that a disaster is coming up, so he's prepping him: what we're doing, how we're changing the campaign…

Mike Medavoy: The only thing tracking teaches you is that you're headed in the wrong direction, so you can make marketing changes. But If you're headed in the wrong direction and the other film opening that weekend is going to beat you 20 to 1 — if, say, you've made a bad decision to open on that date and the film isn't working — then there's nothing you can do. You just brace for the train wreck.

The Silent Treatment

In 1987, Ishtar, starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, grossed about $14 million in North America after costing $55 million.

Columbia Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection

BuzzFeed: What do your colleagues say to you the Monday after a big flop?

Mike Medavoy: I don't know that anyone gives you a condolence call. I think most people would rather hide under the bed than have to deal with it. They just hope the following week there's something else in the pipeline that can wipe this away.

Executive A: I remember one time we came back the Monday after a big flop and nobody talked about it. There was no analysis of what we can do better, what we could do different. We had our Monday meeting, and, the crazy thing in the room was, no one spoke about it.

Executive B: At a studio you get a lot of positive feedback on a hit. They call the first grosses into you 10 a.m. the first day a movie comes out. "Hey, man, we're doing better than this or that, it's got all kinds of potential to break out with this audience." But instead, when you have a flop, you get nothing. It's radio silence. You'll have made a movie with the same people who you generally talk to five times over the weekend and you'll realize you haven't talked to them since Monday.

Walk of Shame

2000's Battlefield Earth cost about $75 million to make and another $20 million in marketing — but earned only $30 million worldwide.

Executive B: I can remember incredibly clearly one Monday morning, seeing two guys who worked on a film together [after the movie flopped]. It was the first time they'd seen each other, and they both just sort of looked away. It was an incredibly awkward and uncomfortable moment. But you can't avoid hearing about the flops now. It used to be just a story or two in the trades. Now with the web, it's crazy the number of stories out there every time a movie tanks.

Mike Medavoy: It gets harder when the stakes are higher. If you make a hundred million [dollar] movie that goes bust and the company can't afford that, then you're the guy who has to be worried. My feeling is that everybody has their own mechanism of protecting themselves against hate. Some have a terrible time, and some feel as though there's a better day coming along the way. Those who are really looking long-term are asking, "Is this going to cost me my job?" And then what they should be doing is figuring out "How do I learn from this?"

Pitchforks Out

The $120 million spent on 2008's Speed Racer led to box office numbers of about $93 million worldwide.

Executive A: If there's a crime and the community is outraged, the police feel incredible pressure to produce a culprit. And if some shady looking kid had been seen hanging around the park where a murder happened, no one is going to be looking too hard at the case when the cops turn him over. For any movie to do well or not, a whole bunch of variables have to work: you have to luck out with your release date – you don't want to come out right after Harry Potter. Are you marketing to the right audience, spending enough? Spending in the right places?

There are so many different elements, but that's at odds with everybody's desire to have a quick pithy reason why something didn't work. It's in everyone's interest for the finger to be pointed at one culprit. After John Carter flopped, all the daggers at Disney pointed at [marketing executive] MT Carney, who was new to the studio and didn't have a lot of friends there, as if the decision to change the film's name was a 90 million dollar error. Once a person is stuck holding the bag, you can feel the room backing away.

Mike Medavoy: I've seen both kinds of reactions. Sometimes people learn from their mistakes and try to understand. Some people, if something doesn't work, they just get angry at everyone around. And that's their prerogative.

Equipped for Failure

Cleopatra was the highest grossing film of 1963, pulling in $26 million. But that was nowhere close to the $44 million spent on production.

Executive A: I know of one place where I saw them go through a major flop, and they very quickly said, OK, what's next, and were ready to move on and not dwell in the sense of failure. This was a place with enough stability in the executive branch that people weren't afraid that one movie would cause the management to fire everyone. At another studio, things were so volatile, there were so many regime changes that you felt one bad movie could result in something drastic happening.

The Search for Meaning

2004's Alexander cost $155 million to produce — but earned only $132M worldwide.

Mike Medavoy: I think once you made a decision to make a movie, you're basically stuck with that decision. You can rationalize anything, but at the end of the day, somebody takes the lesson that comes out of this. And that to me is the major issue. Everybody reacts to their misfortunes and problems in different ways, and everyone tries to learn from the experience. And if you're smart, you look at what really matters and the big lessons, otherwise you can go around saying, westerns don't work, musicals doing work, movies about a guy who uses a movie to get people out of Iran doesn't work, a movie about boxing doesn't work.

Executive B: There's a reason it's called Monday Morning Quarterbacking. You try not to, but you start fighting the next war based on the last war. You say, we can't make PG-13 movies, or whatever explanation you've got for why you failed. But that fades as time goes on.

Growing

One of the biggest bombs ever, 1980's Heaven's Gate cost $44 million to make — and grossed $3 million domestically.

Mike Medavoy: What did you learn? Are you walking away smarter? At the end of the day you've got a lot of people who are depending on these decisions, and a lot of people who are in part responsible for the decision to make the movie, the amount of money they spend, the money the movie makes.

]]>https://www.buzzfeed.com/richardrushfield/how-hollywood-copes-with-disasterTue, 05 Mar 2013 03:23:53 -0500<b>What it&#39;s like to come to work at a movie studio after the weekend of a mega-flop like <i>Jack the Giant Slayer</i>.</b>richardrushfieldnonadultAn image from <i>Jack the Giant Slayer</i>, which opened Mar. 1 and was declared a flop almost immediately.nonadultYou'd be hard-pressed to think of a less fun place to spend this past Monday morning than the executive suites of Warner Brothers Pictures. Last weekend the studio&#39;s <i>Jack the Giant Slayer</i> became Hollywood&#39;s <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/jack-the-giant-slayer-has-worse-opening-weekend-than-john-ca">latest high-profile misfire</a>, earning a dismal $27 million on a budget reportedly in the neighborhood of $200 million, before marketing expenses.
Sooner or later, into the life of every entertainment executive some flops must fall. But coping with failure in a productive, healthy way is not an automatic instinct in a town where schadenfreude and finger-pointing are more popular than the Super Bowl &mdash; for every show-business executive must eventually face the day when he or she has to take the long walk down the studio corridor after their weekend disaster.
We spoke with three who have known those halls and witnessed many walks of shame close up, to find out what it is like in a studio&#39;s executive suite in the days after a very bad loss. The picture that emerges is of a town not generally geared toward learning from failure, but where that can, eventually, in fact occur.
Executives A and B, who spoke on condition of anonymity, have each worked in and around multiple studios in their decades of entertainment experience. Mike Medavoy was a cofounder of Orion Pictures and chairman of TriStar Pictures. He serves today as the CEO of Phoenix Pictures.nonadult2012&#39;s <i>John Carter</i> took $250 million to make &mdash; plus $100 million in marketing costs &mdash; but only earned about $283 million worldwide.nonadult<b>BuzzFeed: The flop game has changed in recent years thanks to tracking &mdash; the advance numbers every studio receives indicating public awareness of and enthusiasm for an upcoming release. Thanks to tracking, the flop game begins long before opening weekend.</b>
<b>Executive A:</b> Because of tracking, everyone knows well in advance what's going to happen. As you approach the release, there is a lot of ass covering. The head of the studio doesn&#39;t want the head of the company to read in the paper for the first time that a disaster is coming up, so he&#39;s prepping him: what we&#39;re doing, how we&#39;re changing the campaign&hellip;
<b>Mike Medavoy:</b> The only thing tracking teaches you is that you&#39;re headed in the wrong direction, so you can make marketing changes. But If you&#39;re headed in the wrong direction and the other film opening that weekend is going to beat you 20 to 1 &mdash; if, say, you&#39;ve made a bad decision to open on that date and the film isn&#39;t working &mdash; then there&#39;s nothing you can do. You just brace for the train wreck.nonadultIn 1987, <i>Ishtar</i>, starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman, grossed about $14 million in North America after costing $55 million.nonadult<b>BuzzFeed: What do your colleagues say to you the Monday after a big flop?</b>
<b>Mike Medavoy:</b> I don't know that anyone gives you a condolence call. I think most people would rather hide under the bed than have to deal with it. They just hope the following week there&#39;s something else in the pipeline that can wipe this away.
<b>Executive A:</b> I remember one time we came back the Monday after a big flop and nobody talked about it. There was no analysis of what we can do better, what we could do different. We had our Monday meeting, and, the crazy thing in the room was, no one spoke about it.
<b>Executive B:</b> At a studio you get a lot of positive feedback on a hit. They call the first grosses into you 10 a.m. the first day a movie comes out. "Hey, man, we&#39;re doing better than this or that, it&#39;s got all kinds of potential to break out with this audience." But instead, when you have a flop, you get nothing. It&#39;s radio silence. You&#39;ll have made a movie with the same people who you generally talk to five times over the weekend and you&#39;ll realize you haven&#39;t talked to them since Monday.nonadult2000&#39;s <i>Battlefield Earth</i> cost about $75 million to make and another $20 million in marketing &mdash; but earned only $30 million worldwide.nonadult<b>Executive B:</b> I can remember incredibly clearly one Monday morning, seeing two guys who worked on a film together [after the movie flopped]. It was the first time they'd seen each other, and they both just sort of looked away. It was an incredibly awkward and uncomfortable moment. But you can&#39;t avoid hearing about the flops now. It used to be just a story or two in the trades. Now with the web, it&#39;s crazy the number of stories out there every time a movie tanks.
<b>Mike Medavoy:</b> It gets harder when the stakes are higher. If you make a hundred million [dollar] movie that goes bust and the company can&#39;t afford that, then you&#39;re the guy who has to be worried. My feeling is that everybody has their own mechanism of protecting themselves against hate. Some have a terrible time, and some feel as though there&#39;s a better day coming along the way. Those who are really looking long-term are asking, "Is this going to cost me my job?" And then what they should be doing is figuring out "How do I learn from this?"nonadultThe $120 million spent on 2008&#39;s <i>Speed Racer</i> led to box office numbers of about $93 million worldwide.nonadult<b>Executive A:</b> If there's a crime and the community is outraged, the police feel incredible pressure to produce a culprit. And if some shady looking kid had been seen hanging around the park where a murder happened, no one is going to be looking too hard at the case when the cops turn him over. For any movie to do well or not, a whole bunch of variables have to work: you have to luck out with your release date &ndash; you don&#39;t want to come out right after <i>Harry Potter</i>. Are you marketing to the right audience, spending enough? Spending in the right places?
There are so many different elements, but that&#39;s at odds with everybody&#39;s desire to have a quick pithy reason why something didn&#39;t work. It&#39;s in everyone&#39;s interest for the finger to be pointed at one culprit. After <i>John Carter</i> flopped, all the daggers at Disney pointed at [marketing executive] MT Carney, who was new to the studio and didn&#39;t have a lot of friends there, as if the decision to change the film&#39;s name was a 90 million dollar error. Once a person is stuck holding the bag, you can feel the room backing away.
<b>Mike Medavoy:</b> I&#39;ve seen both kinds of reactions. Sometimes people learn from their mistakes and try to understand. Some people, if something doesn&#39;t work, they just get angry at everyone around. And that&#39;s their prerogative.nonadult<i>Cleopatra</i> was the highest grossing film of 1963, pulling in $26 million. But that was nowhere close to the $44 million spent on production.nonadult<b>Executive A:</b> I know of one place where I saw them go through a major flop, and they very quickly said, OK, what's next, and were ready to move on and not dwell in the sense of failure. This was a place with enough stability in the executive branch that people weren&#39;t afraid that one movie would cause the management to fire everyone. At another studio, things were so volatile, there were so many regime changes that you felt one bad movie could result in something drastic happening.nonadult2004&#39;s <i>Alexander</i> cost $155 million to produce &mdash; but earned only $132M worldwide.nonadult<b>Mike Medavoy:</b> I think once you made a decision to make a movie, you're basically stuck with that decision. You can rationalize anything, but at the end of the day, somebody takes the lesson that comes out of this. And that to me is the major issue. Everybody reacts to their misfortunes and problems in different ways, and everyone tries to learn from the experience. And if you&#39;re smart, you look at what really matters and the big lessons, otherwise you can go around saying, westerns don&#39;t work, musicals doing work, movies about a guy who uses a movie to get people out of Iran doesn&#39;t work, a movie about boxing doesn&#39;t work.
<b>Executive B:</b> There&#39;s a reason it&#39;s called Monday Morning Quarterbacking. You try not to, but you start fighting the next war based on the last war. You say, we can&#39;t make PG-13 movies, or whatever explanation you&#39;ve got for why you failed. But that fades as time goes on.nonadultOne of the biggest bombs ever, 1980&#39;s <i>Heaven&#39;s Gate</i> cost $44 million to make &mdash; and grossed $3 million domestically.nonadult<b>Mike Medavoy:</b> What did you learn? Are you walking away smarter? At the end of the day you've got a lot of people who are depending on these decisions, and a lot of people who are in part responsible for the decision to make the movie, the amount of money they spend, the money the movie makes.nonadultSay Hello To Emma Watson's Brother, Alexhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/lyapalater/say-hello-to-emma-watsons-brother-alex
Yes, there is a male version of Emma Watson in this world.

He also resembles Zac Efron, which is a very good thing.

So rejoice!

And just thank the gene gods for him.

Amen.

]]>https://www.buzzfeed.com/lyapalater/say-hello-to-emma-watsons-brother-alexWed, 06 Mar 2013 16:52:18 -0500<b>Yes, there is a male version of Emma Watson in this world.</b>lyapalaternonadult27 Things Found In A Former Pro Athlete's Foreclosed Househttps://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/things-found-in-a-former-pro-athletes-foreclosed-house
NBA draft bust Robert Swift’s foreclosed home was recently bought. This is what was found inside. The new owners of the house describe it as straight out of a horror movie.

Trash.

Like, a lot of trash.

Trash and guns.

Guns and trash.

A mannequin torso at which guns were shot.

Bullets and shells from said guns.

More bullets and shells AND grass clippings. (?)

Full bottles of prescription drugs.

This delightful toilet.

Giant knives just lying around.

Sewage.

A classy poster.

Samurai swords.

A giant friggin' hole in the wall.

This Bud Light palm tree.

Apples to Apples and the Jonny Quest Card Game.

A giant jug of urine.

An El Camino without an engine.

More classy posters.

An even classier Jack Sparrow mural.

With a kickass pirate ship.

A telescope.

Some silverware in the bathroom.

VHS tapes.

More shell casings.

Whatever this is.

And the scariest thing anyone has ever seen.

]]>https://www.buzzfeed.com/jpmoore/things-found-in-a-former-pro-athletes-foreclosed-houseWed, 06 Mar 2013 18:03:00 -0500<b>NBA draft bust Robert Swift&#39;s foreclosed home was recently bought.</b> This is what was found inside. The new owners of the house describe it as <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/ktlincoln/new-owner-of-nba-washouts-home-describes-basement-shooting-r">straight out of a horror movie</a>.jpmoorenonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultTurkish Oil Wrestling Is A Totally Legit Sporthttps://www.buzzfeed.com/catesish/turkish-oil-wrestling-is-a-totally-legit-sport
No, seriously, it’s the national sport of Turkey.

So, the premise of oil wrestling is this: first, get greased up with olive oil.

And then he dived into a song called "We Saw Your Boobs" that was about women in Hollywood who have shown their breasts in movies:

Then he brought out Charlize Theron and Channing Tatum for a slow dance:

And finally, he danced with Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gordon Levitt:

]]>https://www.buzzfeed.com/whitneyjefferson/watch-seth-mcfarlanes-opening-monologueSun, 24 Feb 2013 20:27:04 -0500<b>Tommy Lee Jones smiled, Charlize Theron and Channing Tatum danced with each other, and Seth sang a song about Hollywood nudity called "We Saw Your Boobs."</b> Watch what you missed here!whitneyjeffersonnonadultThe Sublime Storm On The Surface Of The Sunhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/the-sublime-storm-on-the-surface-of-the-sun
NASA has captured perhaps the most beautiful footage of the sun ever recorded.

Every second of this video represents six minutes:

On July 19, 2012, an eruption occurred on the sun that produced all three. A moderately powerful solar flare exploded on the sun's lower right hand limb, sending out light and radiation. Next came a CME, which shot off to the right out into space. And then, the sun treated viewers to one of its dazzling magnetic displays – a phenomenon known as coronal rain.

Over the course of the next day, hot plasma in the corona cooled and condensed along strong magnetic fields in the region. Magnetic fields, themselves, are invisible, but the charged plasma is forced to move along the lines, showing up brightly in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength of 304 Angstroms, which highlights material at a temperature of about 50,000 Kelvin. This plasma acts as a tracer, helping scientists watch the dance of magnetic fields on the sun, outlining the fields as it slowly falls back to the solar surface.

The footage in this video was collected by the Solar Dynamics Observatory's AIA instrument. SDO collected one frame every 12 seconds, and the movie plays at 30 frames per second, so each second in this video corresponds to 6 minutes of real time. The video covers 12:30 a.m. EDT to 10:00 p.m. EDT on July 19, 2012.

Just friendly reminder that this temperamental ball of combusting gas is the only thing sustaining us in the otherwise cold and black void of space:

Also, good morning!

]]>https://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/the-sublime-storm-on-the-surface-of-the-sunThu, 21 Feb 2013 09:51:14 -0500<b>NASA has captured perhaps the most beautiful footage of the sun ever recorded.</b>jwherrmannonadultnonadult<blockquote><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/24662369@N07/8492649924">On July 19, 2012,</a> an eruption occurred on the sun that produced all three. A moderately powerful solar flare exploded on the sun's lower right hand limb, sending out light and radiation. Next came a CME, which shot off to the right out into space. And then, the sun treated viewers to one of its dazzling magnetic displays &ndash; a phenomenon known as coronal rain.
Over the course of the next day, hot plasma in the corona cooled and condensed along strong magnetic fields in the region. Magnetic fields, themselves, are invisible, but the charged plasma is forced to move along the lines, showing up brightly in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength of 304 Angstroms, which highlights material at a temperature of about 50,000 Kelvin. This plasma acts as a tracer, helping scientists watch the dance of magnetic fields on the sun, outlining the fields as it slowly falls back to the solar surface.
The footage in this video was collected by the Solar Dynamics Observatory&#39;s AIA instrument. SDO collected one frame every 12 seconds, and the movie plays at 30 frames per second, so each second in this video corresponds to 6 minutes of real time. The video covers 12:30 a.m. EDT to 10:00 p.m. EDT on July 19, 2012.</blockquote>nonadultAlso, good morning!nonadultNext Ad Medium: Thighs Of Japanese Girlshttps://www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/next-ad-medium-thighs-of-japanese-girls
Nothing creepy about that. Green Day bought “space” to promote their new album.

The spreading epidemic of media placement seeping into every nook and cranny of your daily life is something known in the advertising industry as Ad Creep.

Well, media placement doesn't get much creepier than this.

Japanese PR company Absolute Territory has begun paying young women (18+) to wear advertising stickers on their thighs between the edge of their miniskirts and their high socks.

As of November of last year, over 1,300 women had applied for the agency's service, and their number is growing fast, according to Oddity Central.

After choosing a sticker ad, the woman has to wear it for at least eight hours a day, or more, for a set period of time, in order to receive payment. To prove they are actively going out and promoting their thigh ads, they have to post photos of themselves wearing the stickers on their Facebook, Twitter or other social media accounts.

]]>https://www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/next-ad-medium-thighs-of-japanese-girlsThu, 21 Feb 2013 14:18:09 -0500<b>Nothing creepy about that.</b> Green Day bought "space" to promote their new album.copyranternonadultnonadultThe spreading epidemic of media placement seeping into every nook and cranny of your daily life is something known in the advertising industry as Ad Creep.
Well, media placement doesn't get much creepier than this.
Japanese PR company Absolute Territory has begun paying young women (18+) to wear advertising stickers on their thighs between the edge of their miniskirts and their high socks.
As of November of last year, over 1,300 women had applied for the agency&#39;s service, and their number is growing fast, according to <a href="http://www.odditycentral.com/funny/young-japanese-women-rent-out-their-bare-legs-as-advertising-space.html">Oddity Central</a>.
After choosing a sticker ad, the woman has to wear it for at least eight hours a day, or more, for a set period of time, in order to receive payment. To prove they are actively going out and promoting their thigh ads, they have to post photos of themselves wearing the stickers on their Facebook, Twitter or other social media accounts.
Thigh-vertising actually has been tried before. But in that case (in New Zealand), the ad agency tried to trick women into <a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/copyranter/8-highly-questionable-promotions-from-the-last-8-y?sub=1888349_713451">getting an ad imprinted on their legs</a>.nonadultGreen Day has employed Absolut Territory to promote the Japanese release of their new CD &ldquo;!Uno!&rdquo;nonadultnonadultApple's Podcast Disasterhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/apples-podcast-disaster
Is the company that basically invented the podcast putting it out to pasture?

Apple's podcast app is, without a doubt, the worst iOS app it's ever made. Others have been poorly received or largely ignored, but this is unprecedented: With nearly 6,000 ratings, the app has just 1.5 stars in the App Store. Reviews range from harsh to despairing: "Horrible in every way," reads the most recent. "Oh, and this app cost me $40 in overage uses on my data plan."

"To say that it is not user friendly is an egregious understatement," reads another. "Can we please see the whole title of the episodes?!? Is that too much to ask?" Other reviews complain of constant crashes, deleted podcasts, and a confusing interface.

Among the most damning reviews: "Worse than iOS Maps."

Episodic online radio existed before Apple officially endorsed the "podcast" name. But it wasn't until 2005, when Apple added podcast support to iTunes, that podcasting hit the big time. In iOS, podcasts were first supported via iTunes syncing and then directly through the iTunes app, where they flourished for years. In July, Apple broke them out into their own app — an iBooks-style standalone podcasting app.

This was considered progress by the podcast community, in theory. "I applaud Apple for breaking out podcasts into their own app," says CollegeHumor's Jeff Rubin, host of a popular, long-running comedy podcast called The Jeff Rubin Jeff Rubin Show. "The Apple podcast app makes podcasts more visible, so I'm a big fan of its existence."

Soon after launch, though, it became clear that the app had problems. Business Insider savaged it in a review: "Hopefully Apple fixes all the bugs in the podcast app, because it's reportedly removing podcasts from iOS iTunes, forcing people to use this app isntead. If this is what people have to deal with, it's going to be a disaster."

More than six months later, the problem is unresolved. The app's launch disaster has transformed into an ongoing disaster, not just for users but perhaps for podcasting as a whole.

One popular podcaster and radio personality, who did not wish to be named but we'll call "Dave," said that the "double whammy" of the new iTunes design (iTunes 11) and the new podcast app have turn him off of using iTunes, which is by far his largest outlet, almost completely.

"When the app came out, my downloads went through the roof," he says. But these promising early signs were misleading. The boost in downloads turns out to be the result of "bug" with the app, not a surge in actual listeners. The flaw, which triggered numerous downloads without user consent, wreaked havoc on both listeners' data bills and podcasters' hosting plans. "Our bills for that month were so much higher," says Dave.

The app's long term effects are less clear, but don't appear to have been positive. Dave says his podcast has been growing for a long time across services, and that it's difficult to calculate the negative effect the app may have had on his overall subscriber base. That said, he did notice "a tick down" in listenership, once the download bug was accounted for.

"I've had a few listeners tell me that they've had trouble downloading my podcast to their Apple mobile devices," says the anonymous host of the Dumbass's Guide to Knowledge," a skeptics' podcast, "even though it downloads perfectly to their home computer. I'm in the process of implementing new listening options that will hopefully make it easier and give people a choice of how to listen."

Apple doesn't release podcast listening numbers, and providers themselves are generally reluctant to talk about them because, among other reasons, they depend on Apple for good placement in the iTunes Store and podcast storefront. But Seth McFarland, creator of the popular alternative podcast listening app, Downcast, has certainly felt the effects: He says he saw a noticeable increase in downloads after Apple's Podcasts app was released.

"I was pretty worried about what it would do to the market since I felt like they would provide what 99% of people want or need in a podcast app," he says, "but I do get a lot of feedback in email an on Twitter from users who have moved to Downcast due to frustrations with it."

More worrying, perhaps, is the simple fact that Apple hasn't done anything to fix an app that is so obviously in need of help. The company is not short on resources, but appears to have dedicated virtually none to the app that serves as the sole official way to download podcasts on iOS. "At least for my show, about 80% of the listening comes from Apple devices," says Rubin. One wonders if Apple is treating its podcast app like it did its Remote app, which was reported to have been created by a team of one.

"If Apple really had an interest in pushing it, I bet they could double the number of people consuming podcasts just by redesigning the iTunes store," says Rubin says.

Podcast listeners are starting to feel abandoned, too. A recent review reads: "Crashes... hangs up... utterly useless. Podcasts worked just fine in the music app. Why take something that works and break it for no good reason?"

It's a curious contrast, to be sure. Podcasts have a higher profile now than ever before, and have launched or re-launched careers in spectacular ways — comedian Marc Maron, for example, has parlayed his podcast into a radio show and a TV series on IFC. But as podcasts have become more interesting, Apple seems to have become less interested.

"Apple is by far the #1 most important company in podcasts," says Rubin, "but it seems like a really low priority for them."

Apple has not yet responded to a request for comment.

]]>https://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/apples-podcast-disasterThu, 14 Feb 2013 13:10:08 -0500<b>Is the company that basically invented the podcast putting it out to pasture?</b>jwherrmannonadultnonadultApple's podcast app is, without a doubt, the worst iOS app it&#39;s ever made. Others have been <a href="http://www.apple.com/ios/maps/">poorly received</a> or <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/find-my-friends/id466122094?mt=8">largely ignored</a>, but this is unprecedented: With nearly 6,000 ratings, the app has just 1.5 stars in the App Store. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/podcasts/id525463029?mt=8">Reviews</a> range from harsh to despairing: "Horrible in every way," reads the most recent. "Oh, and this app cost me $40 in overage uses on my data plan."
"To say that it is not user friendly is an egregious understatement," reads another. "Can we please see the whole title of the episodes?!? Is that too much to ask?" Other reviews complain of constant crashes, deleted podcasts, and a confusing interface.
Among the most damning reviews: "Worse than iOS Maps."
Episodic online radio existed before Apple officially endorsed the "podcast" name. But it wasn&#39;t until 2005, when Apple added podcast support to iTunes, that podcasting hit the big time. In iOS, podcasts were first supported via iTunes syncing and then directly through the iTunes app, where they flourished for years. In July, Apple broke them out into their own app &mdash; an iBooks-style standalone podcasting app.
This was considered progress by the podcast community, in <i>theory</i>. "I applaud Apple for breaking out podcasts into their own app," says CollegeHumor&#39;s Jeff Rubin, host of a popular, long-running <a href="http://www.jeffrubinjeffrubin.com/">comedy podcast</a> called <i>The Jeff Rubin Jeff Rubin Show.</i> "The Apple podcast app makes podcasts more visible, so I&#39;m a big fan of its existence."
Soon after launch, though, it became clear that the app had problems. Business Insider <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/apples-podcast-app-is-horrifficly-bad-2012-7#ixzz2Ktj4AcBd">savaged</a> it in a review: "Hopefully Apple fixes all the bugs in the podcast app, because it&#39;s reportedly removing podcasts from iOS iTunes, forcing people to use this app isntead. If this is what people have to deal with, it&#39;s going to be a disaster."nonadultnonadultMore than six months later, the problem is unresolved. The app's launch disaster has transformed into an <i>ongoing</i> disaster, not just for users but perhaps for podcasting as a whole.
One popular podcaster and radio personality, who did not wish to be named but we&#39;ll call "Dave," said that the "double whammy" of the new iTunes design (iTunes 11) and the new podcast app have turn him off of using iTunes, which is by far his largest outlet, almost completely.
"When the app came out, my downloads went through the roof," he says. But these promising early signs were misleading. The boost in downloads turns out to be the result of "bug" with the app, not a surge in actual listeners. The flaw, which triggered numerous downloads without user consent, <a href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/11/14/podcast-bug-in-ios-60">wreaked havoc</a> on both listeners&#39; data bills and podcasters&#39; hosting plans. "Our bills for that month were so much higher," says Dave.
The app&#39;s long term effects are less clear, but don&#39;t appear to have been positive. Dave says his podcast has been growing for a long time across services, and that it&#39;s difficult to calculate the negative effect the app may have had on his overall subscriber base. That said, he did notice "a tick down" in listenership, once the download bug was accounted for.
"I&#39;ve had a few listeners tell me that they&#39;ve had trouble downloading my podcast to their Apple mobile devices," says the anonymous host of the <i>Dumbass&#39;s Guide to Knowledge</i>," a skeptics&#39; podcast, "even though it downloads perfectly to their home computer. I&#39;m in the process of implementing new listening options that will hopefully make it easier and give people a choice of how to listen."nonadultnonadultApple doesn't release podcast listening numbers, and providers themselves are generally reluctant to talk about them because, among other reasons, they depend on Apple for good placement in the iTunes Store and podcast storefront. But Seth McFarland, creator of the popular alternative podcast listening app, <a href="http://www.downcastapp.com/">Downcast</a>, has certainly felt the effects: He says he saw a noticeable increase in downloads after Apple&#39;s Podcasts app was released.
"I was pretty worried about what it would do to the market since I felt like they would provide what 99% of people want or need in a podcast app," he says, "but I do get a lot of feedback in email an on Twitter from users who have moved to Downcast due to frustrations with it."
More worrying, perhaps, is the simple fact that Apple hasn&#39;t done anything to fix an app that is so obviously in need of help. The company is not short on resources, but appears to have dedicated virtually none to the app that serves as the <i>sole</i> official way to download podcasts on iOS. "At least for my show, about 80% of the listening comes from Apple devices," says Rubin. One wonders if Apple is treating its podcast app like it did its Remote app, which was reported to have been created by <a href="http://appleinsider.com/articles/10/08/03/apples_itunes_remote_app_was_developed_by_one_person_report">a team of one</a>.
"If Apple really had an interest in pushing it, I bet they could double the number of people consuming podcasts just by redesigning the iTunes store," says Rubin says.
Podcast listeners are starting to feel abandoned, too. A recent review reads: "Crashes... hangs up... utterly useless. Podcasts worked just fine in the music app. Why take something that works and break it for no good reason?"
It&#39;s a curious contrast, to be sure. Podcasts have a higher profile now than ever before, and have launched or re-launched careers in spectacular ways &mdash; comedian Marc Maron, for example, has parlayed his podcast into a radio show and a TV series on IFC. But as podcasts have become more interesting, Apple seems to have become less interested.
"Apple is by far the #1 most important company in podcasts," says Rubin, "but it seems like a really low priority for them."
<i>Apple has not yet responded to a request for comment.</i>nonadultBurger King's Twitter Account Hackedhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/burger-kings-twitter-account-hacked-and-switched-to-mcdonald
“Just got sold to McDonalds because the whopper flopped =[” Someone’s having a bad day over at BK HQ.

The fact that it's a national holiday probably didn't help matters: The hack has been going on for over an hour, and the BK press office has not been responsive. Update: After an hour and fifteen minutes, the account has been suspended. The account, at the time of closing, had gained over 30,000 new followers.

A Twitter spokesman says, "We don't comment on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons." Burger King has released this statement:

It has come to our attention that the Twitter account of the BURGER KING® brand has been hacked. We have worked directly with administrators to suspend the account until we are able to re-establish our legitimate site and authentic postings. We apologize to our fans and followers who have been receiving erroneous tweets about other members of our industry and additional inappropriate topics.

Still going:

The two photos, expanded:

An hour later, hackers still had control:

As of 5:45 EST, the account has been reinstated. It looks like followers are being restored but the hacker's tweets are still there:

]]>https://www.buzzfeed.com/jwherrman/burger-kings-twitter-account-hacked-and-switched-to-mcdonaldMon, 18 Feb 2013 11:23:43 -0500<b>"Just got sold to McDonalds because the whopper flopped =["</b> Someone&#39;s having a bad day over at BK HQ.jwherrmannonadultnonadult<p><img src="http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1769643466/258844_104131489680984_104118713015595_32268_721285_o__1__normal.jpeg">RT @BurgerKing: Everybody follow us! @YourAnonNews #OpMadCow-- Anonymous</p>nonadultThe fact that it's a national holiday probably didn&#39;t help matters: The hack has been going on for over an hour, and the BK press office has not been responsive. <b>Update:</b> After an hour and fifteen minutes, the account has been suspended. The account, at the time of closing, had gained over 30,000 new followers.
A Twitter spokesman says, "We don&#39;t comment on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons." Burger King has released this statement:<blockquote>It has come to our attention that the Twitter account of the BURGER KING&reg; brand has been hacked. We have worked directly with administrators to suspend the account until we are able to re-establish our legitimate site and authentic postings. We apologize to our fans and followers who have been receiving erroneous tweets about other members of our industry and additional inappropriate topics.</blockquote>nonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadultnonadult<p><img src="http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/3023765417/29fa073cd79c4656c53cafe63a799a7f_normal.jpeg">My real life nightmare is playing out over on @BurgerKing-- arb</p>nonadult<p><img src="http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2793478937/f95e4500b15b0b96f0ddf02ba6770cb4_normal.png">We empathize with our @BurgerKing counterparts. Rest assured, we had nothing to do with the hacking.-- McDonald's</p>nonadultnonadultSteve Martin Is A Dad At 67https://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/steve-martin-is-a-dad-at-67
For the first time ever!

Martin, 67, and his wife, Anne Stringfield, 41, keep an intensely private life in Los Angeles, but they supposedly welcomed a baby back in December, who would be Martin's first child. "They’ve had a baby, and how they kept it a secret nobody knows,” a source told Page Six. “Steve’s very private.”

Martin and Stringfield, a writer and former staffer for New Yorker,married in 2007. Martin was previously married to British actress Victoria Tennant from 1986 to 1994.

Michael Buckner / Getty Images

Mazel tov!

]]>https://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicamisener/steve-martin-is-a-dad-at-67Wed, 13 Feb 2013 08:51:34 -0500<b>For the first time ever!</b>jessicamisenernonadultThe 15 Hardest "Would You Rather" Questions You Will Ever Be Askedhttps://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/the-15-hardest-would-you-rather-questions-you-will-ever-be-a
You may want to sit down for this one.

Let's play a game of...

]]>https://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/the-15-hardest-would-you-rather-questions-you-will-ever-be-aTue, 12 Feb 2013 17:00:23 -0500<b>You may want to sit down for this one.</b>daves4nonadultnonadultnonadultVarious WYR from <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/WouldYouRather">Reddit</a>, and elsewhere on the internet.nonadultnonadultThe Typical Day Of A Teenage Girl In The Late '90shttps://www.buzzfeed.com/amandamarsh/the-typical-day-of-a-teenage-girl-in-the-late-90s-96ht
Eat. Sleep. Dawson. AOL. A typical day in the life of a teenage girl during the late 1990s.

Wake up to your CD alarm clock playing "NOW That's What I Call Music Vol. 1."

Featuring Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, Fastball, Aqua, Marcy Playground, and more. (We're now up to Volume 45 as of February 2013.)

Fall asleep under the stars.

]]>https://www.buzzfeed.com/amandamarsh/the-typical-day-of-a-teenage-girl-in-the-late-90s-96htMon, 11 Feb 2013 18:26:13 -0500<b>Eat. Sleep. Dawson. AOL.</b> A typical day in the life of a teenage girl during the late 1990s.amandamarshnonadultFeaturing Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, Fastball, Aqua, Marcy Playground, and more. (We&#39;re now up to Volume 45 as of February 2013.)nonadultTry to forget those "totally organic experience" TV commercials while you lather up.nonadultYou&#39;re a walking Delia&#39;s advertisement.nonadultYou not only had the spray, but the candle, the body wash, the lotion, the roll-on...nonadultYou have more stackable pots and rollers than an aisle at Michael&#39;s craft store.nonadultIt&#39;s, "Ohmigawd, can you believe what happened on <i>Buffy</i>/<i>7th Heaven</i>/<i>Dawson&#39;s Creek</i> last night?"nonadultIt&#39;s either Nick or Justin. Pick a side.nonadultBecause you had a minimum of three in your class. Likely more.nonadultOnly one of your friends had a cell phone, and she only used it to call her parents to pick her up after school.nonadultYou&#39;re playing <i>Tetris</i> or <i>Snake</i> on your TI-83 Plus graphing calculator.nonadultTry to sneak online, but the 28.8k modem gives you away. Play <i>Minesweeper</i> instead.nonadultAnd you&#39;re totally going to school in New York City.nonadultFight with your friend over who gets to include Green Day&#39;s "Good Riddance." Settle on Semisonic&#39;s "Closing Time" instead.nonadultAnd you saved all of your Snapple Facts caps.nonadultDecide to order some shirts with names of snowboard and surfing companies on them, even though you&#39;ve never done either sport.nonadultLie to your friends and say it&#39;s actually The Offspring&#39;s <i>Americana</i>.nonadultYour <i>YM</i> and <i>Seventeen</i> subscriptions arrived!nonadultLike sign on to AOL, email everyone a 50-question survey about yourself in Comic Sans MS, and say important things like "A/S/L?" in chat rooms. LOL ;)nonadultDon&#39;t forget neon text, rainbow dividers, and spinning GIFs!nonadultYell. Loudly.nonadultThose final days before Napster and CD burning.nonadultYou never missed an episode, whether it was <i>Buffy</i>, <i>7th Heaven</i>, <i>Charmed</i>, <i>Felicitiy</i>, or <i>Dawson&#39;s Creek</i>.nonadultOr at least the glow-in-the-dark ones you bought at Spencer&#39;s.nonadult